Prescriptions

Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what guidance his Department provides to healthcare professionals on preventing, prescribing and dispensing errors in relation to immunosuppressant therapies.

Ann Keen: The National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA) reviews medication errors on an ongoing basis, and prioritises the production of guidance and recommendations based on the level of harm reported to its Reporting and Learning System (RLS), other national and international reporting systems and published literature.
	The Agency has also produced a series of design guides in the 'Design for Patient Safety' series, which aim to improve the labelling, and packaging of pharmaceutical products. A copy has been placed in the Library. These have been issued to pharmaceutical companies to assist them produce products that minimise the risk of miss-selection and other patient safety incidents. These materials are also used by national health service (NHS) medicines procurement groups to purchase products which are safer in use. A design guide on The Dispensing Environment which identifies ways that good design of the dispensing environment can help improve the accuracy of the dispensing process has also been produced by the NPSA.
	The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has, as part of an European Union-wide action on two specific immunosuppressant therapies, agreed to send a 'dear Doctor/Healthcare Practitioner letter' to the relevant NHS staff, and made proposals for changes to the packaging for Advagraf to emphasise that it differs from Prograf. In addition, MHRA included the issue in their December edition of the Drug Safety Update, with a further article in the January 2009 edition. These should help to make prescribers, pharmacists, and patients aware of the brand being prescribed, whatever the manufacturer, and the associated dose regimen. MHRA has also highlighted the issue to other information providers, including the British National Formulary and the National Prescribing Centre.

Departmental Personnel

Francis Maude: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what are  (a) his Department's and  (b) HM Revenue and Customs' definition of pre-surplus staff; and what the criteria are under which an individual is added to the pre-surplus staff database.

Angela Eagle: In HM Revenue and Customs, when it becomes clear that work is reducing in a location and the number of posts needed to carry out the work is likely to reduce, senior managers within HMRC will assess whether their business will have a potential staff surplus. Wherever possible, the aim will be to manage the situation before declaring staff pre-surplus. Only permanent HMRC staff are eligible for pre-surplus status.
	Where senior managers identify that there is a potential staff surplus they will consult with staff and the unions representing the staff affected, then commence pre-surplus measures. Those measures will include working with other senior managers and HR Business Partners to consider all the options for managing the potential pre-surplus situation.
	Staff can be declared pre-surplus in two ways.
	All staff in a particular grade, team or location could be declared pre-surplus. Once there has been a sufficient reduction in staff numbers, the remaining staff will no longer have pre-surplus status.
	Alternatively, where a specific reduction is needed quickly, senior managers could run a selection exercise to identify which members of staff will fill posts to be retained. The remaining staff are then made pre-surplus.
	Once declared pre-surplus, individual staff are added to the pre-surplus database. This ensures they are given priority access to vacancies within HMRC, and vacancies in other Government Departments.
	HM Treasury does not use the term 'pre surplus' nor has any equivalent category.